Hughes Wins $50-Million Star Wars Contract

Hughes Aircraft Co. said it was awarded a $50-million contract to design and test one part of the proposed Star Wars strategic defense system that would destroy incoming missiles.

Under the two-year contract, which was awarded by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Hughes’ Missile Systems Group in Canoga Park will design an experimental vehicle that would be part of the so-called “brilliant pebbles” defense system, Hughes said.

The system envisions that such vehicles--interceptors no larger than tactical missiles--would be deployed in space orbit to seek and destroy incoming intercontinental missiles by smashing into them at high speeds.

Hughes Aircraft Co. is part of GM Hughes Electronics, which in turn is part of General Motors Corp.